This is the UK400 Club Rare Bird Alert highlighting all records of avian interest and published in association with Rare Bird Alert Pagers and utilising additional information gleaned from the Regional Birdlines, BirdGuides, local email groups and individual observers

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Saturday, 16 February 2013

STEJNEGER'S STONECHAT added to UK List

The BBA/UK400 Club has added STEJNEGER'S STONECHAT to the latest List - Saxicola stejnegeri - following the latest revisions by the CSNA in their most recent report (Dutch Birding 35: 40-43). This form is now considered distinct from both Siberian and Caspian Stonechats (cf Wink et al 2002; Zink et al 2009 & Gill & Donsker 2012). The first for THE NETHERLANDS was on Texel, Noord-Holland, from 8-23 October 2012 and this same bird was present (and trapped) at Portland Bill, Dorset, on 24-26 October 2012 (see Birding World 25: 408).

The species is also added to the latest update to the WESTERN PALEARCTIC LIST, along with PRAIRIE WARBLER from The Azores last October. Three species previously only recorded from Mauretania have been removed from the list - Temminck's Courser, Kordofan Lark and Grey-backed Fiscal Shrike - all occurrencies were south of the WP boundary line it now transpires (Crochet et al, Dutch Birding 35: 28-30)

About Me

I have been birding since 1969 but became obsessed with 'twitching' in 1974 and haven't looked back since. Have driven over 1.3 million miles in pursuit of rare birds in the UK, where to date I have recorded 588 species in Britain and Ireland. I also have a fascination for the Birds of the Western Palearctic, where I have currently recorded 880 of the 1,064 species ever recorded. I am widely travelled in North America, as well as in Africa and Asia, and have written at least 29 books on my chosen subject, including best-sellers ''Ultimate Site Guide to Scarcer British Birds' and 'Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990'. Established the UK400 Club in 1981 to cater for the most obsessive of the British birding fraternity and now concentrate on online publishing, via the www.uk400clubonline.co.uk website. Record Birding achievements include recording 386 species in Britain & Ireland in 1996 and 627+ in the Western Palearctic in 2008